Russia's offer to enrich uranium on Iran's behalf is "not sufficient" to resolve the stand-off over Tehran's nuclear programme, Iran says. Iran's top negotiator said it had merits but was not enough to provide "for Iran's nuclear energy needs". Iran had earlier reacted warmly to the proposals, raising hopes it might be the key to unlocking the crisis. While US President Bush praised it as "a good plan", his secretary of state accused Iran of using delaying tactics. "One cannot say that it is a negative proposal," said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, on his return from talks in China. He said it would be further considered, and could be "part of a package", but was not the whole solution. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

Medical marijuana crusader Steve Kubby, a key figure behind California's voter-approved medical marijuana law, is back in the United States to face a jail sentence after spending years as a fugitive in Canada. Kubby had been sentenced to 120 days in jail after being found guilty in 2001 of possessing the hallucinogen mescaline, found in peyote, and psychedelic mushroom. He had also faced marijuana charges, but they were dropped after he argued medical necessity. Kubby says he needs marijuana to curb symptoms of a rare type of adrenal cancer and says he will suffer and die without it in jail....http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1548215&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

It's been nearly 17 years since the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil along the Alaska coast in one of the country's worst environmental disasters, and a jury's $5 billion judgment against the company is still tied up in the courts.ExxonMobil Corp.'s appeal of that punishment was scheduled to be heard for the third time Friday in a federal appeals court in San Francisco.The case stems from a 1994 decision by an Anchorage jury to award punitive damages to 34,000 fishermen and other Alaskans.The residents claimed they were harmed when the Valdez struck a charted reef and spilled crude oil along about 1,500 miles of coastline. They alleged that the captain was drunk and that Exxon knew he had a drinking problem. The jury found Exxon and Valdez captain Joseph Hazelwood reckless in the accident...http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-27-exxon-valdez_x.htm?csp=34

Gas supplies to parts of Chechnya's capital Grozny have been cut off after an accident damaged a gas pipeline running through the Russian region. The accident came shortly before its energy-starved neighbour Georgia agreed a deal with Iran to get extra gas. Most of Georgia still lacks power and heating after snow and wind knocked down its main power line and explosions ruptured a key Russian gas pipeline. Russia and its neighbours are suffering from extreme cold this winter. In Chechnya, the emergency situations ministry and gas utillity experts are searching for the cause of the pipeline rupture, which happened near the city of Gudermes, a ministry official said. The rupture cut off supplies to the Shali and Kurchaloi districts as well as to the capital. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4654632.stm

Senate GOP leaders plan to confirm Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito early next week. Some Democrats continued trying to build support for a filibuster, but there appeared to be little momentum for it. A final vote making the New Jersey jurist the nation's 110th Supreme Court justice was scheduled for Tuesday morning, only hours before President Bush begins his State of the Union address to Congress and the nation, if Alito's bipartisan supporters succeed in rounding up 60 votes to cut off debate on Monday. Republicans didn't seem worried, with 52 of their 55-member majority and three Democrats — Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Ben Nelson of Nebraska — already publicly supporting Alito's confirmation as replacement for retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/images/2006/01/13/image1206749g.jpg

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, indicated today that he would ask the militant group Hamas to form a government following its victory in Wednesday's elections.Speaking outside his office, Mr Abbas said he was in talks with the parties over the formation of a new government after Hamas secured 76 seats in the 132-member Palestinian parliament to break the 40-year hold of the Fatah party on Palestinian leadership."Until now, we haven't asked anyone to form the government," Mr Abbas said. "We are carrying on contacts with all factions, and of course we will ask the party that won the majority to form the government."The Hamas leader in the new parliament, Ismail Haniyeh, told worshippers at a mosque in a Gaza refugee camp that he had spoken to Mr Abbas earlier this morning and requested a meeting within 48 hours to work out the shape of the new government....http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1696482,00.html